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ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

markbarlow
Tutor

ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Hi,

My ReadyNAS Pro 6 stopped responding to network requests and when I rebooted it was in Safe mode, so I booted into the boot menu and reinstalled the firmware. It's running the latest 6.10.8 firmware.

When I try to restore the previous config backup it says its corrupted or the volume names don't match. I don't think the config file is corrupted as I have tried several other config backups and they give the same message.

How do I recover the existing volume and the data?

Message 1 of 41

Accepted Solutions
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config


@markbarlow wrote:

I have mounted the USB drive and recovered the small number of files that weren't backed up.

 


Great news.

 


@markbarlow wrote:

 

Is there a support article on the process?

 


https://kb.netgear.com/30267/RAIDiator-4-2-USB-Recovery-Tool

 

Note the prep requires use of a Windows PC.  Also note the warning in the article. One thing the warning doesn't say - the NAS can be quite fussy about the USB drive. Generally it works best to use older/smaller flash drives.  Using one that has an activity light is often useful, as it gives you some evidence that the drive is being accessed during the process.

 

Though doing the recovery could save some time, I'd personally just do the factory default.

 


@markbarlow wrote:

 

How do I rename the OS6 bios file to use with the OS4.2 recovery system?

 


You can just rename it to match the 4.2.31 firmware before you select it via the recovery tool. (RAIDiator-x86-4.2.31)

 

Make sure you extract the image from the zip file.

 

View solution in original post

Message 40 of 41

All Replies
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config


@markbarlow wrote:

My ReadyNAS Pro 6 stopped responding to network requests and when I rebooted it was in Safe mode, so I booted into the boot menu and reinstalled the firmware.


Did you do an OS reinstall?  Or did you do a factory default?

Message 2 of 41
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

It sounds as if the data volume isn't mounted, so the "names don't match" is because there is no name for the unmounted volume.  Do you see a data volume at all in the GUI or RAIDar?  I hope you didn't miss a vital step prior to an OS re-install -- backing up your data.  The NAS goes into safe mode to protect the data from further corruption when there is a file system error and give you the opportunity to insure your backup is up to date.  An OS re-install was unlikely to fix your issue, but it (and especially the re-boot necessary) carry a lot of risk of making the volume unmountable.  The usual fix for this is backup, re-initialize the NAS, and restore data.

 

You may still be able to manually mount the volume if it's not mounted, and @StephenB can likely help you do so if you are comfortable with SSH and the Linux command line.  He will likely need to see your logs, but don't try to post them here -- he'll tell you how if it comes to that.  But it would likely still have errors that are best fixed by backing up the data, re-initializing the NAS, and restoring the data.

Message 3 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

I think the first step is to confirm that @markbarlow did an OS reinstall, and didn't do a factory reset.

Message 4 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

OS Reinstall

Message 5 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Could it be that the config or VPD is corrupted?

Message 6 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config


@markbarlow wrote:

OS Reinstall


Then why would you need to apply an old config???

 

The OS reinstall would just

  • reset admin password back to password
  • reset network to dhcp with no bonding
  • disable volume quota (which is turned on via the volume settings wheel).

Other settings aren't changed.

 

Are there signs that something else is still wrong? (access to the data volume for example)

Message 7 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

When I login using the default password it has no volume.

Message 8 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config


@markbarlow wrote:

When I login using the default password it has no volume.


Can you post a screenshot of the volumes tab in the web ui?

 

Are you certain you didn't do a factory default by mistake?  Also, that you are no longer in safe mode?

Message 9 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Definitely did the OS Reinstall.

I did this because I couldn't access the Web UI and none of the SMB shares were working.

Message 10 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config


@markbarlow wrote:

Definitely did the OS Reinstall.

I did this because I couldn't access the Web UI and none of the SMB shares were working.


Ok. So the net here is that something went wrong that the OS reinstall couldn't fix.

 

If you have no volume (or a volume that isn't mounted), then trying to reapply an old config won't fix it. It is possible that you have lost some (or all) of the data on the NAS. Do you have a backup of the files?

 

It would also be helpful if you could post a screenshot of the volume page in the web ui.  Itt would let us see if the system has an inactive (unmounted) volume, a default volume with no shares, or something else.

 

You should also get the full log zip file from the web ui log page.  You can't directly post it, but you can put into cloud storage (dropbox, google drive, etc) and send the download link.  Don't post the link publicly, as there is some privacy leakage.  Instead send a private message (PM) using the envelope icon in the upper right of the forum page.

Message 11 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

This is the first screen after login...

markbarlow_0-1687225432665.png

 

Here is the volume page...

markbarlow_1-1687225453675.png

 

Message 12 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Generally the volume inactive either means that

  1. the system isn't detecting enough healthy disks to assemble the RAID array or
  2. there are some writes that didn't get written to the disks due to a system crash or power cut.

The second scenario is much easier to deal with.  It is possible to forcibly assemble the array from tech support mode, though this does require some linux skills.  No cost of course, but there is some risk of data loss.

 

Another option would be to use either a data recovery service, or data recovery software (for instance ReclaiMe) to offload data.  This has lower risk, but would be pretty expensive. 

 

If you went the software route, you'd need to get enough adapter/docks to connect all the disks to a PC, and also get enough storage to for the offloaded data.  And of course get buy the recovery software.  Note you can buy enclosures with multiple bays.

 

 

Message 13 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Are there any instructions on how to assemble the array via the tech support mode?

I have some basic Linux skills myself but have a friend who is a guru.

 

Message 14 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

The ReadyNAS 6 Pro has 6x Seagate Ironwolf 4Tb drives that are 18 months old.

Its on a UPS and connected via USB but there was an outage that went longer that the runtime of the UPS so I'm not sure if the ReadyNAS detected it and shut down gracefully.

The data on the drive is 99% backed up to MEGA so its not a major if I need to create a new volume and restore from the cloud but its 16TB+ of data so would take at least a week to resync with the cloud.

I would much rather restore the array if possible.

If I need to get technical support from Netgear, does anyone know how I buy this service?

 

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Mark 🙂

 

Message 15 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config


@markbarlow wrote:

 

If I need to get technical support from Netgear, does anyone know how I buy this service?

 


You can't.  The Pro 6 was discontinued 10 years ago, and in addition Netgear never offered tech support for systems 4.2 that were converted to OS-6.

 


@markbarlow wrote:

 

The data on the drive is 99% backed up to MEGA so its not a major if I need to create a new volume and restore from the cloud but its 16TB+ of data so would take at least a week to resync with the cloud.

I would much rather restore the array if possible.

 


You'd boot up in tech support mode.

 

Use Telnet to connect (not ssh).  Username is root, password is infr8ntdebug 

 

Then you can try this:

rnutil chroot
mdadm --assemble --scan --really-force /dev/md127 

 

If that works, then reboot the NAS. 

 

Message 16 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Thanks for the advice.

 

I can successfully login to the NAS via Telnet when its in Tech Support Mode, but when I run the commands I get a can't execute bash error....

 

2H0312RR00569 login: root
Password:
# rnutil chroot
chroot: can't execute 'bash': No such file or directory
# mdam --assemble --scan --really-force /dev/md127
-sh: mdam: not found

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mark 🙂

Message 17 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Oh, I made a typing mistake mdam instead of mdadm... but it still gives an error...

 

# mdadm --assemble --scan --really-force /dev/md127
mdadm: /dev/md127 not identified in config file.

Message 18 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Also ran these commands...

 

# btrfs device scan
Scanning for Btrfs filesystems

# mdadm --assemble --scan --force
mdadm: No arrays found in config file or automatically

# cat /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
HOMEHOST 33eaaddd

 

Message 19 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config


@markbarlow wrote:

 

# mdadm --assemble --scan --really-force /dev/md127
mdadm: /dev/md127 not identified in config file.


Can you run lsblk, and copy.paste the output in a reply?

Message 20 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

2H0312RR00569 login: root
Password:
# lsblk
-sh: lsblk: not found
#

Message 21 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config


@markbarlow wrote:

2H0312RR00569 login: root
Password:
# lsblk
-sh: lsblk: not found
#


That's because your chroot failed.  Something appears to be not right with your OS partition.

 

Try /bin/lsblk and see if that works.

Message 22 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

# /bin/lsblk
-sh: /bin/lsblk: not found
# cd ..
# cd bin
# ls
?@]@@X??@8?@????@@@@@???????????@??@?????@@??????
ash
busybox
cat
chattr
chmod
chown
cp
cpio
date
dd
df
dmesg
dnsdomainname
echo
egrep
false
grep
hostname
kill
ln
login
ls
mkdir
mknod
mktemp
more
mount
mv
ping
ping6
ps
rm
rmdir
run-parts
sed
sh
sleep
start_raids
stat
sync
tar
true
umount
uname
usleep
vi
#

Message 23 of 41
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

Try entering

cat /proc/partitions
Message 24 of 41
markbarlow
Tutor

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 Firmware reinstalled but won't restore config

I have run this command but it won't let me paste the result in the message for some reason, so I have attached a pdf.

I have also run a dmesg and will post that in the next reply.

M:-)

Message 25 of 41
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